Perhaps Trinidad's most admired and celebrated personalities in the sporting world was Learie Constantine. At times the significance of Learie Constantine extended to his being much more than a sporting hero. He emerged at a time when the seeds of West Indian nationalism were beginning to sprout. And Learie himself carried the aspirations of the masses within him.

Quite apart from the fact that he was talented, he was impatient with being treated as a second class citizen in the country of his birth. This influenced his cricket greatly, and indeed his life. Several times during his long and illustrious career as a world class cricketer, he became embroiled in controversies for things that had nothing to do with the sport itself.

For him, cricket was not the only important thing in life. What was equally important was the welfare of his race. In fact, long after his cricketing career had ended, this kind of controversy continued. In the early 1960's for example, while he was High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago in London, he was in the middle of a diplomatic row for intervening on behalf of West Indians in a dispute. He eventually resigned over this.

The point was that Learie, for whom cricket could have been said to be his life, felt that no man could live by cricket alone. The really important game was life, and his team was the team of the African race. This philosophy set him apart from his fellow cricketers and other sportsmen. Essentially, however, it was his cricket that made him a hero.

Learie Constantine was the son of an exceptional cricketer, a man who in his time was the most famous cricketer in Trinidad, Lebrun Constantine. Lebrun's career was an inspiration to his son. At the turn of the century (1900) Lebrun, by public subscription, went on the first West Indies tour of England and scored the first West Indian century at Lords of 113. Learie was born the following year.

He watched his father play long before he could have understood anything about the game. As he was growing up the relationship between father and son was very close. It was no coincidence that around 1916 when the father had passed the pinnacle of his career, and was beginning to fade, the son was just walking out to the middle, his career at the dawn.

The crowds of Port of Spain, and especially Maraval where he lived, were amazed at the similarity between father and son, particularly in batting and fielding. They were both excellent players. Learie bowled a great deal more than his father who was a better wicket keeper. But even in this they were alike and dangerous. Learie had not equalled his father in batting skills as yet, but the markings of a great batsman were in evidence.

Learie's father, who had previously played for Maraval Cricket club was now leading a team going by the name of Shannon, a team that was oddly enough in the second division. In 1920 Shannon was promoted to the first division, with Learie playing his first season one year later. He was a magnificent player for Shannon and was soon considered to be one of the best all-rounders in Trinidad.

A measure of the way he had burst on the scene, was the fact that after only two years of first class cricket, in 1923, he was picked as a member of the West Indies cricket team to tour England. And it was on that tour that the cricketing giants of the day like Jack Hobbs, Patsy Hendren, Herbert Sutcliffe and our own Pelham Warner, saw him and came to the conclusion that Learie was an exceptional player with exceptional talent.

Although he made no spectacular scores, his brilliant batting, bowling and fielding gave something special to the West Indies performance. His fielding in particular often bewildered the English spectators, having not seen anything like it before. Such fielding often changed the progress of the match dramatically, and saved the West Indies team from being totally outclassed. This paved the way for the West Indies team being granted Test status in 1928.

The test match series in 1928 in England was by no means a glorious series for the West Indies team but it confirmed Learie as a great player. His prestige as a batsman, bowler and fielder rose even higher. If that was possible. Following that miserable tour, there was opportunity for Learie to surpass his performance two years later on another tour to England.

Later in that same year, 1930 when he was selected to tour Australia with the West Indies team, wild and prolonged cheering erupted in St. Vincent Street near the wharf and left no doubt, that he was considered to be one of the greatest heroes of the people of Port of Spain and the surrounding areas.

It is worth repeating that Learie's contribution to cricket cannot be measured in terms of high scores and number of wickets taken, although he had relative success in both. It was his amazing performance that added a touch of magic to the game. He sometimes plucked a ball from out of the air before anyone realized what had happened. He had incredible agility and a flair for transforming a game within a few moments with either the bat or the ball.

The score book could give no indication of this kind of performance, but those who watched him understood. So when we see a score like 106 in a six match series in England in 1930, this in no way reflects the sort of player he was. It would perhaps surprise us that he was hailed as a cricketing hero, in terms of today's standards. Even on tour in Australia in 1930, Learie was regarded as the number one player in the West Indies team.

He played his game there with such an eager spirit, his agility was so unique to the Australians that he was the focus of their attention. Although the West Indies lost four of the five test matches, and had been losing so badly that they were judged to be hopelessly outclassed, cricket lovers in Sidney were flocking to the final test match mainly because of the amazing Learie Constantine.

But Learie Constantine also made his mark in the world of politics. He was fired by the speeches of the young, rising political leader, Dr. Eric Williams. Added to this was his own interest in the welfare of his fellowmen, which made it no surprise that he would end up in politics. His immense popularity was a great asset to him. Learie served as the Chairman of the Peoples National Movement and was later posted as the High Commissioner of Trinidad to England.

The life of this brilliant man came to an end in 1971, when he died in England at the age of seventy, where he had been made a member of the House of Lords. He was brought home and buried in Tunapuna where he had lived for a long time.

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